Chicago, Ill. - The Thunder women's basketball team added some additional intrigue to an already exciting CCIW title race on Saturday night with a 58-54 victory over North Park University. The conference-leading Vikings fall to 10-3 in the CCIW and 17-5 overall. Wheaton improves to 16-6 overall and 9-4 in the CCIW. North Park now sits in a first place tie with Illinois Wesleyan at 10-3 with Wheaton sitting one game back in the conference race. Wheaton will host Illinois Wesleyan for its next game with a 5 pm tip-off at King Arena on February 15.
The Thunder defense led the way for the visitors, holding North Park to just 28.3% (17-60) shooting from the field and 29.4% (5-17) from beyond the arc. Wheaton finished the game shooting 17-48 (35.4%) and 6-16 (37.5%) from the three-point line. Wheaton converted on 18-of-28 free throw attempts with the host Vikings hitting 75% of their 20 attempts. North Park held a slight 42-40 rebounding advantage but held a 15-9 offensive rebounding edge.
A back and forth first quarter started with Wheaton scoring the first five points only to have the Vikings answer with five straight points. A
Kirsten Madsen three-pointer closed the Thunder offensive production as Wheaton led by a score of 14-11 at the end of the first quarter. Both offenses struggled to open the second quarter with
Hannah Frazier ending a four-plus minute scoreless streak for the Thunder with a three-pointer to put Wheaton ahead 17-13 with 6:38 left in the half. Another Frazier three-pointer and a three-point play by Madsen pushed Wheaton's lead to 23-15 two minutes later. The Vikings pulled back to within three points late in the half, but two free throws by Madsen with no time on the clock gave Wheaton a 28-23 halftime lead.
With 11 points in the first half,
Hannah Frazier moved past Rachel Horgen into fifth place on Wheaton's career scoring list.
North Park kept the Thunder lead within striking distance throughout the opening portion of the third quarter and cut the lead back to 34-30 on an Emily Czuhajewski three-pointer at the 3:56 mark. Frazier answered with a rebound and basket off her own miss and
Zoe Nordling converted an old-fashioned three-point play as the Thunder closed the half on a 10-3 run capped by a
Jill Berg lay-up to take a 44-33 lead into the final quarter.
The Vikings came charging to start the fourth quarter, running off seven-straight points in the opening minutes to pull within 44-40. A lay-up by
Jacqueline San Jule stopped the North Park run and Madsen added a three-pointer to quickly re-establish a 49-40 edge before the Vikings made their next push, scoring five-straight points to get back within four at 49-45. Frazier answered with a three-pointer with 3:14 to play and two free throws by Nordling gave Wheaton a 54-45 lead with 2:50 to play. Frazier would have the answer down the stretch to each North Park push as the hosts would get no closer than the final margin of 58-54 when Sinead Molloy hit a three-pointer as time expired.
Frazier finished the game with a game-high 24 points including four three-pointers. Frazier also grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds.
Kirsten Madsen joined Frazier in double figures, finishing with 14 points and five rebounds.
Zoe Nordling finished with seven points and four rebounds. Josie Summerville was the lone Viking in double digits, finishing with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
